Category Archives: Truth and Lies

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I walked with my cousin this morning, a short walk, just a couple of miles. The rain stopped, it was cloudy, and though it was very humid, it was cooler, not quite 80. It was a pleasant change. It’s was that way all day, til a short time ago.

We talk, deep and honest, always. I talked to her about moving, and when I talked about leaving my son in Denver, I started crying. Geezus.

The walk was nice, but I can’t even talk about that without losing it. I don’t know how I’m going to actually do it.

Then I went to the grocery store this afternoon. I ran into one of my best friends there. We have known each other 22 years, since our kids were 2 and in Story Hour at the library together. Her daughter and my son were born on the same day. My son is older, lol, by 3 hours. A fact he never let her daughter forget. She was part of our small book club.

She had just come home from a big family vacation to Ireland and England, with some side trips, one to Paris for a few days, I think. I had called her to see if she wanted to go for a walk about 3 or 4 weeks ago and she said, “Um…I’m in Ireland.” LOL. I said, “Oh, I guess you don’t want to go then…..” And laughed. We talked a little, texted a little.

So it was good to see her, and just catch up briefly. I told her I sold the house while she was gone, and she looked happy and sad in the same moment. We talked about it briefly, because she had an engagement she had to get to, but I choked up again, talking about taking son to CO. I am a basket case. I so wish he had a father. Or I should say, a father who wasn’t a sociopath. Anyway, we are going to try to get the book club together to say goodbye the week after next.

I truly can’t believe I’ll be out of here in 6 weeks. I’ve feel like I’ve been talking about it forever. It’s been so often, my final escape from so much drama in my life, from men who can’t love, or won’t, who have caused me so much pain. Men who have taken all I would give, and given me back nothing except pain, and heartache, and lies.

Now I look at it as just an awesome thing I get to do. I’m so over all of that. I think about it, and I think, the drama goes on, I’m sure. Just without me. Because, really….how could there ever be any trust there? Yeah, she lied, a small tiny lie to make him stop lying to her, to make him believe he’d been caught red-handed. I seriously only objected to it because she involved me, and it just wasn’t true. But really, he’s the one who cannot tell the truth. How could she ever ever trust her heart to him again? So much like my ex. Just cannot talk without trying to manipulate someone.

I feel like, she’s just in her comfort zone with him, and willing to put up with his bullshit. She was never going to talk to him again, twice now, til I did. So she did. What kind of foundation for a relationship is that? If I’d told him to come here that night 6 weeks ago when he asked me so many times….what would she have done then? Wanted him back? I was leaving anyway….who knows? Such a game they play.

Whatever. It’s none of my business. Sometimes I just go off on a tangent, it was part of my life way too long. I still feel connected to him on some level, it’s weird. But it doesn’t stop me from living this life. If we are connected through past lives, which I feels sure we are, we will bump into each other again. But this life time….I don’t think so.

The whole point, now, is….I get to retire. I don’t have to work, unless I want to. I intend to find a part-time job, grocery money. I get to live by the water, which has always been my other home. I get to do the things I love to do, that I have a passion for, and not spend the bulk of my time at a stressful job. I will be so free. As hard as it will be to say goodbye to my son, the fact that he’s not going to be living with me, makes me all the more free.

I didn’t do any packing today. Just normal house chores. Laundry, shopping, making some food so we’ll have food to eat during the week. Now I’m outside in the sacred space, lol. With a dark rum and diet coke and half a lime squeezed into it. Feeling pretty content. Sun is out, and it’s breezy. This mornings humidity is blowing away.

As are the last years tears, and pain, and drama. Blowing away, leaving cool, clean energy in it’s place. Life is so good.

For years I was such a bad sleeper. I guess that’s normal, living with a sociopath whose purpose in life was to create chaos in yours, and your sons. Never knowing what you might wake up to. Wondering if the earth would tilt on its axis by morning. I took over the counter sleep aids for years on end. Never went to bed without some sort of help, and often, they didn’t help. I’ve taken 4 Tylenol PM and not gone to sleep.

I often wonder if I did any damage to my body all those years. I figure not sleeping probably would have done more.

Since I moved out of that house, it’s been rare that I take anything. It took some time to wean myself off of the fear of not sleeping. I wasn’t physically addicted to the sleep aids, but I had a lot of fear of not sleeping at all, and having to go to work and be functional the next day. Now, I know if I don’t sleep one night, I will sleep the next. So I don’t generally take them.

Last summer though, when the carpal tunnel was really bad, I got prescription Ambien which helped me to sleep through some of the pain. That particular ailment gives you the most pain when you are sleeping. I’d have to get up multiple times during the night to run my hand under warm water, to relieve the throbbing. The Ambien got it down to just once usually.

As soon as I was through the surgery and the carpal tunnel was no longer an issue, I found out about Betty Boop. Which sent me into another tailspin, in which heartbreak combines with trust issues, mostly, not trusting myself. After all, there were myriad flags flying, and I chose to believe the obvious lies I was being told, and not to see the truth that had been slapping me in the face all summer trying to wake me up.

If you follow my blog, you know that relationship did not end there. You know that he tried to keep me in the periphery of his life, that he could not let me go, even though he’d chosen her. He continued to break my heart on a regular basis until really, about 6 weeks ago, when he asked to come see me after leaving me about a dozen voice mails and I finally talked to him and said, no. No, we aren’t going there again.

I reclaimed myself.

I have not talked to him since. I had some short communications with Betty Boop, but then blocked her so I won’t even see another email from her. She made up a lie, for her own benefit, telling him I’d done something I had not done. It wasn’t a big thing, but it just doesn’t sit well with me. She and he are welcome to play all the games they want, and feed each other the lies they need to hear, but leave me out of it. I’m not angry, I just can’t get drawn into that childish adolescent stuff again.

I realized last night that when I called him and left a voice mail just telling him that it was a lie, I’d unblocked him, and had not reblocked him. I reblocked him again last night. Again, not because I’m angry. Not because I have any bad feelings at all for him. But because I am moving on, I don’t want to be part of that little drama any longer. He loves the triangulation. He’ll have to find another 3rd leg to make her jealous with.

The point is….after I did it, I slept a solid 7 hours. I’ve done that a lot lately. Even with all the agita over the hot water heater, and trying to find a mover, and trying to train 2 people at work, I’ve been able to sleep. Because none of it is emotional. None of it makes me question who I am. I’m beginning to trust myself again.

Today I woke refreshed from a good night’s sleep. There is a very gentle rain falling outside, so I can’t sit out there, but I opened the slider to my deck to let the fresh air in, and listen to the peace of it. The stillness.

I am beginning to absorb, assimilate, that my dream of moving to Florida and retiring is manifesting. I guess there is always a ying yang with it, and the yang to that ying is that my son won’t be with me any longer. I know it’s time for him to fly on his own, I know he will love Colorado. I know it’s an adventure for him. I know I’ll still talk to him every day, and that our bond can never be broken.

But God, I will miss his chaotic energy in my life, his youthful exuberance, the plethora of friends and young people constantly running through my house.

I’ll get through it. I’m trying to just look forward to driving cross country with him. That will be a wonderful way to say goodbye to our old life.

I’ll keep the Ambien by my bed, for those few nights when it’s hard.

The rest of the time, I’ll just sleep. I’ll have my life back, completely. There will be no triggers down there to remind me of what I thought I had, and didn’t, nothing to remind me of all the pain I endured. I will just enjoy the fruits of my work to heal, and continue that process in my “Avalon”. My place of healing and new beginnings.

The truth will always find it’s way out. It’s kin to the light we shine, the love we feel. It can only be covered with darkness, lies, for so long. And when it erupts from it’s tomb, it can be a painful and hard experience, but it will lead to beauty, to love, to the righting of the world. Let it come, and let it be.

Before I went to bed last night I used my very unscientific method of confirming my feelings about knowing him from a past life, I asked my pendulum, both of them. LOL. They both said, yes, we have known each other in past lives. They both said yes, I was supposed to remind him of who he was. But no, I was not supposed to bring him back from the darkness.

Which is a relief…..Because I did my best, while we were together, to tell him that he had a beautiful soul, and that I could see it. The darkness, the things that have happened to him in his life, have obscured it, in his own mind. I always saw it, and even now, I know that it was his insatiable need to be loved that made him deceive. I know his holes are so deep that he just couldn’t let go. Such erroneous thinking.

Ruin is a gift, S. It is the only way to begin transformation. I know he’s saying “bullshit” to that, lol. But it’s true. The trip back from the darkness is his to undertake, when he’s sick of having his life go wrong.

I saw him, I still see him…I forgive his inability to believe enough in himself to tell the truth. I do know that the person the most hurt by all he did was himself. So, the fact that I made sure she knew the truth is secondary. If there had been nothing to tell, he wouldn’t be there.

The fact that I’m sure he blames me for the misery he’s in now….well, honestly, what he thinks of me is none of my business.

My ex has the same issues, of not believing anyone could love him based on his own merit. And blaming me. He never was with another woman, but he lied about finances, about what he was doing, about his life, about his successes and failures, and blamed everyone else for everything. In the end, everything was my fault, and still is, I know. I really want to take him some Christmas food today. I will try, but honestly, I don’t even know if he’s even living in the same place. I’ll try, as long as I can do it without running into him. I haven’t seen him in about 2 years, though I’ve talked to him during that time. But I just don’t want to come face to face and have to talk to him. It would be uncomfortable for us both.

I have considered inviting him over for the holiday. But first, my son and he have no relationship. My son is content that way, even though I know he’s avoiding feeling all the stuff that he had to deal with with his father. I could not do that to my son. He’s made a lot of progress, and is a great kid, but he’s not ready to deal with his father’s abuse.

I also know that my ex believes everything we had together, all of the money and possessions, were his, not ours….so the fact that I have a lovely home while he lost everything he had because he borrowed so much money and thought he’d never have to pay it back, would just anger him. He really thought he could lie his way out of of having to pay the money back. He would look at me and think this house is really his, that it was bought with his money. The fact that I worked side by side with him for 25 years, and then for 10 more ran his business while he descended into severe alcoholism, means nothing to him. I was there to serve him, not to partner with him. I’m just so grateful that I got out before he threw it all away and was able to salvage enough to have a nice life for my son and myself.

So I have to leave him alone. But I’d still like to bring him something, so he’d know we were thinking of him. He can use that information however he wants, to build his ego or to regret his actions that caused him to lose us.

I got a message from a guy on a dating site this morning. His profile just made me laugh, it was so obviously a spoof on profiles. It’s too bad he lives a little too far outside my geographic area, about an hour and a half or so from me. But God, I hope I actually find someone who has a sense of humor like that. It would be so much fun.

It seems I mostly get messages from men who live in California, Arizona, Texas….lol. One this morning from Manitoba Canada, lol. I live on the east coast, it’s pretty densely populated here. But most of the profiles I come across are so boring! Where are all the funny, alive men? That was the attraction with S, he made me laugh and he was never boring. If he just could have been honest, geez….

Well time to wrap gifts. Make cakes. Clean up the kitchen, the house. My son is working all day, so won’t be home til this evening. It will be a nice low-key evening and I’m looking forward to it.

Sleep did not evade me last night! I got about 8 hours, albeit broken by waking up every couple of hours. But I got back to sleep pretty easily without Ambien. Yay!

My energy is my own this morning, and that feels good. No angst, except about how I’m going to do everything I want to do and still maybe get to the shoreline, lol. Grocery shopping first, my fridge is so bare! And putting the outside lights up, which shouldn’t take all that long. I promised my son I’d make cookies too.

The shore is about 45 minutes from me, which means an hour and a half drive time. Maybe an hour there. Maybe take a pad of paper and my kindle, read and write. Or just use my phone to write. I think I need to go. Need those negative ions that blow off the water and connect to my soul. The endless sky and water, and the islands, the places of my dreams that are also places I have some warm memories of.

I have some memories of S at the place I would go. (That’s a pic of it at the top of the page.) Our first date, which ended because the park closed. We spent the whole day together there by the water, just walking and talking. It is also the place where he first told me he wanted to be alone, it was last spring, and figure out what he needed to do with his life. He said, “I think I’m gonna break your heart again.” I answered with a smile, “Again?” We walked on the beach, we sat at a picnic table, we walked around the park and talked. I didn’t get upset, at all. I remember he was turned around as to where he was in relation to the water and the islands, and insisted that one island was another. These were the waters I lived on, on my boat, for 30 years, so I told him when we walked up on a ridge he’d see I was right. And of course I was. I laughed and said, “See….here you have a woman who knows the waters around here like the back of her hand and you don’t want her…” He looked at me and said, “It’s never been a question of not wanting you.”

I asked if it was a temporary or a permanent break, he said “I didn’t think temporary was an option.” I told him that I think he probably needs to do it, and if he wanted he could just check in with me when he felt like it, let me know how he’s doing.

Obviously, that was all because Betty was back in his life, I know now. Why he didn’t want to tell me the truth I don’t know. But at any rate, when I didn’t get upset and just was a friend to him, he asked me if I wanted to come over for dinner (which never meant just dinner). So much for not seeing me anymore. I said to him, “you just said you wanted to be alone….” He said, “but I like you so much when you’re like this….” Lol.

I do think he had a soft spot for me, and in some warped way wanted to keep me in his life, while he kept her. It’s just too bad that he couldn’t own the truth with me. He could have kept me in his life if he had, as a friend. If he could own what he’s done now, we might be friends again. I never could hold a serious grudge. Even for this, if he’s learned his lesson and can stop lying to me. I would never be intimate with him again, but we could at least talk, he could still make me laugh. Maybe. If he could own his story, and stand up and be counted.

Of course, he may be holding a grudge with me, for making him tell her, for bringing the truth out. But I think, really, he knows that it’s his own actions that caused the situation. Not the fact that I insisted the truth be on the table.

At any rate, I don’t feel like I’d be triggered into anything if I go there. I feel like it’s all a story of my past now. Distance and time have given me back my own life.

Time for me to get my day underway, if I really want to get everything done today.

Feeling a little passively content this morning. Not so angry at S, as I have been for 24 hours, which followed reading my blogs from last summer. I had a hard time with them. I was in so much pain, all summer. Trying to make sense of what was happening to our relationship, nothing fitting together. I know he read every one of them, and knew the pain he was causing with his lies, and didn’t care….as long as he was getting what he wanted.

But that’s who he is. He is who he is, I’m just glad to know now, and be out of it. I accept him as he is, I don’t invite him into my life though.

I’m sure that the loving attention I get from A has soothed the anger. It reminds me how insignificant S’s behavior is, in the face of someone loving you. Sometimes I want to be with A, but I’m so fickle right now, I know sometimes I won’t. Or, I’m afraid I won’t. Right now, he is not rushing, or pushing me in any direction, he’s just loving me, and I’m just loving him, from a distance, and it is very healing. Just the right amount of relationship for me, while I continue to put the one with S in it’s proper place, and gain perspective on it.

I’ve learned that I caused so much of the pain I experienced, by trusting S with out his having earned my trust. I’ve learned that I have to love myself first, and demand what I need. Over the summer, I thought what I needed was him, but when he refused, what I needed and demanded was that he let me go. I realize now, that I should have just gone, I didn’t need his permission, or release, because he wasn’t going to give it. He wanted me to continue to adore him, to desire him…..no matter the cost to me.

I’m stronger now, and wiser. Whoever I love next, will get a balanced, more mature love, and all the passion I lavished on S…I will have more for the next one. Because I will make wiser choices, I will love myself more and know my own worth and therefore, attract someone who also feels that way about himself and me. No more high school drama.

I wrote a blog about S and I, about how we would get together after work. But I’ve deleted it, just now. Decided it was too personal.

I went to bed last night, and just thought about how it was, and how he could be that way with me, and then leave and go to her bed the next day…and never tell either of us. What kind of mentality allows someone to do that?

How could it not be special? He said, after I found out, “My relationship with you is nothing like my relationship with her.” How could he separate his emotions like that? How could he be two different people? How could he not feel extreme guilt when he was with either of us?

Well, we always pay. What we bury, or ignore, or deny, our bodies deal with. No wonder his diabetes is back. No wonder he had those terrible headaches last summer. Maybe the headaches were a lie too, just an excuse he made up so I wouldn’t press him to see him on Saturday night. Nothing is for sure anymore.

I told him, back when I would talk to him, to see his pulmonologist. I didn’t think the health issue I was feeling was his diabetes. I thought it had to do with his breathing. Probably because when I’ve done reiki on him, his heart and throat chakras were so blocked.

It’s all just an observation now. I look at what happened without emotion now. It’s not really even a pleasant memory anymore, just a memory, like a dream that suddenly goes bad.

You wake up, and say, it was just a dream. An hour later, you’ve forgotten it.

I’ll find someone else to sit on the deck with me and stargaze. I’m letting go, with every word I write. 7 weeks out, I think I’m doing pretty well.